


conscientious

by catgod (yoonmims)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Getting Together, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, M/M, Post-Time Skip, sakusa is attracted 2 men who are conscentious and driven pass it on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoonmims/pseuds/catgod
Summary: It’s a well known fact amongst anyone who knows anything about Sakusa Kiyoomi that there’s nothing he hates more than people who are careless, underprepared and messy.What is a lesser known fact, however, is that there’s nothing Sakusa loves more than someone who is prepared, conscientious and just the right amount of responsible and cautious. Enter Hinata Shouyou.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Comments: 98
Kudos: 1254





	conscientious

**Author's Note:**

> wow can u believe ive been into hq since 2015 and loved kagehina since then yet the first fic i write is omhina? hinata rarepairs have dragged me into a HOLE 
> 
> ever since i read ch394 I haven't been able to stop thinking about sakusa being attracted to hinata based off his meticulous habits sjdhwqgefbwndj pls enjoy (also i read several omihina fics the past few days so i sincerely apologise if this fic has any similar elements i might have accidentally picked up from them without realising! also this is unbeta-ed and i wrote it today in a rush so im sorry it isnt the best dhfed)

Sakusa’s first proper conversation with Hinata Shouyou only happens once they both sign onto the MSBY Black Jackals. He’d heard about him back in high school, of course. It wasn’t easy to forget about Karasuno’s tangerine haired middle blocker who’d collapsed on the court during their final set against Kamomedai, especially not when it hit so close to the injury of their own captain, and their subsequent surprise defeat against Inubushi Higashi.

It’s with a bright smile and friendly, warm eyes that Hinata settles down opposite Sakusa during their morning stretches and introduces himself.

“Sakusa-san! Hello! I’m Hinata Shouyou! It’s great to meet you!”

Sakusa can only blink in surprise at the sudden onslaught of blinding white teeth and messy orange hair that greets him. Great, is his first thought, hearing Hinata’s loud, high-pitched voice. Yet another Bokuto and Atsumu to grate on his ears and patience every day. What more could he ask for?

“Mr ‘I got a fever and got benched’,” he finally says, recalling exactly who the human embodiment of the sun sitting before him is. The tanned young man who sits before him is a far cry from the sickly pale and sweating teenage boy that collapsed at Nationals all those years ago. He’s taller, for one. Only marginally so, however. There’s a sort of quiet confidence and calm that surrounds him now that seems antithetical to the image of an excitable, bouncing teenager Sakusa has in his mind.  _ Miniature-sized Bokuto-san _ , his head provides, and he lets out an unintentional shiver at the thought.

“Please don’t say that like it’s some kind of nickname now!” Hinata pleads, falling to the ground from his kneeling position, hands clawing at the wooden floor in embarrassment. Sakusa takes a moment to admire Hinata’s neatly trimmed nails. “And that was six years ago now!”

Barely suppressing an eyeroll (even he has some level of politeness to adhere to with strangers, unlike what Atsumu would insist), Sakusa bends himself forward into a stretch, legs spread wide apart and hands splayed against the ground in front of him. The movement tugs at his muscles, and he lets out a small sigh as he inches his hands forward. The floor is slightly sticky underneath his touch.  _ Disgusting _ , Sakusa thinks, and makes a mental note to thoroughly douse his hands in sanitiser after this.

Hinata Shouyou is still sitting in front of him, legs tucked neatly underneath him and intense gaze fixed on Sakusa, expectant.  _ Better to get rid of him quickly before he attracts the others over.  _ “I don’t hang around people who don’t know how to manage their health,” he says, a clear dismissal, and focuses on stretching and warming up his wrists.

Surprisingly, Hinata doesn’t let out an indigent squawk (like Bokuto did) or sling a sentence of frustrated insults his way (in true Atsumu fashion). “You don’t have to worry about that,” he just replies. Sakusa looks up from his stretching to see Hinata gazing across the practice room with a calm smile on his face, eyes self-assured and confident. “I learned from what happened. I’m way better about it now.”

With this promise hanging between them, and Hinata’s eagerness to see exactly how far Sakusa’s wrists can bend because fucking  _ Bokuto  _ had told him Sakusa could turn them practically inside out, Sakusa reluctantly lets Hinata sit and warm-up with him, tuning out th stream of chatter that Hinata lets out.

This, Sakusa expects, will be the extent of their friendship for the duration of their time on the same team. 

Oh, how he is wrong.

It’s a well known fact amongst anyone who knows anything about Sakusa that there’s nothing he hates more than people who are careless and underprepared and messy. What is a lesser known fact, is that there’s nothing Sakusa loves more than someone who is prepared, conscientious and just the right amount of responsible and cautious.

He hasn’t had many of what he would call ‘crushes’ throughout his lifetime, and he personally believes that reflects more on the standards for cleanliness of the male population of Japan, rather than his own exacting and high standards. Komori would perhaps disagree, but it isn’t like Komori’s opinion is that important to him.

Ushijma had been the sole figure appearing in Sakusa’s fantasies for years after one fated meeting at the men’s bathroom at the All Japan Middle School Athletics Tournament involving a pocket hankie folded the correct way. In his teenage years, Itachiyama captain Iizuna had caught his attention for his practiced movements with a lint roller.

Considering his track record of ‘crushes’ so far, no one - least of all Sakusa himself - could have foreseen what played out next.

And it had all started with that one photo.

* * *

Hinata’s showing Bokuto and Atsumu photos of his time in Brazil playing beach volleyball when Sakusa steps onto the bus. The smell of man sweat and cheap air freshener hangs in the air, and he pulls his facemask up his nose further. He’d rather not catch something from the team bus, of all places. God, the embarrassment.

“Oh, Omi-kun,” Atsumu calls, leaning over the back of his chair to squint at the phone screen Hinata holds up to him. “Shouyou-kun is just showing us some of his pictures from Brazil.”

“Beach volleyball looks so cool,” Bokuto whines. “I want to play it. Hey, Meian-”

“No.”

“But-”

“No.”

Sakusa reluctantly settles into a seat across the aisle from Bokuto and Hinata, Inunaki seated behind him. This is what he gets for having a rigorous post-game cleaning routine. If only he had been a bit quicker onto the bus, he would have been able to snag a seat near the front and escape hearing Hinata and Atsumu natter away like little birds the whole journey home.

A phone is shoved under his nose, and he recoils instinctively. If he was a cat, he probably would have hissed then. But he isn’t, and so he doesn’t. 

“Look how cool Hinata’s beach partner was,” Atsumu gushes. “Man, I’d love to set a few balls for him.”

Sakusa’s eyes are fixated on Hinata, barely registering the hulking figure of his beach partner that towers above him in the photo, one arm slung around Hinata’s shoulder and a bright grin showing off pearly white teeth stretching across his face. No, Sakusa only has eyes for Hinata.

He’s… gorgeous. And not just because he’s tanned and smiley and dripping sweat all over his muscled body. Sakusa already  _ knew  _ these things about Hinata, and yeah, while they were attractive, they didn’t really do anything for him.

But this…

The long-sleeve dry fit shirt underneath his loose, sleeveless shirt. The faint pale smudges of suncream that are visible on his exposed legs. The cap pulled down tightly over his mop of sunset orange hair. The sunvisor, protecting his eyes from the bright sun that beams down on them both. The water-bottle clutched one-handed, over a litre and almost empty. In the background of the photo, Sakusa can make out a pack of sports drinks, and empty food wrapper that indicate a healthy, athletes diet.

This is a man who knows how to take care of himself.

It’s no surprise, considering the profession they’re in. Almost every player he knows takes good care of themselves and their bodies, some better than others (Osamu has complained about Atsumu arriving to spontaneously gorge himself on food at Onigiri Miya more times than he can count). But this… this is different. 

Sakusa can’t explain it, but he feels the swirl of heat in the pit of his stomach and the fluttering of his heart in his chest, and promptly pulls away, turning to face the window and pulling his eye mask down over his face to hide the blush that stains it.

Behind him, he can faintly hear a confused Hinata asking Atsumu what happened. He ignores it, studiously trying to fall asleep and will away the heat that flushes his whole body.

_ Nope _ , he thinks.  _ We’re not doing this. _

* * *

It’s as if that one photo flipped a switch in Sakusa, and now he can’t stop  _ noticing  _ things. And it isn’t even the normal things he notices, like how Atsumu just wipes his greasy fingers onto his sweatpants after a meal, or Bokuto sniffing his own earwax.

He’s noticing things about  _ Hinata _ . And they’re not good things, if the sickening lurching in his stomach is any indication. He brings it up to Komori one time over the phone, suggesting that he might have a food intolerance he hadn’t accounted for, and gets laughed off the call.

There aren’t many of the team that live in the dorms provided. For players like Meian who have a stable home life and a family waiting for them at the end of every day, there’s no point. Who would want to willingly live with your teammates instead of your family? But for people like Sakusa, fresh out of university with little experience living fully alone, it’s a godsend.

Bokuto lives in the dorms too; although it isn’t as if anyone could tell, given how much time he spends at his boyfriend Akaashi’s place. Whether Akaashi is too shy of a person to ask Bokuto to formally move in, or he just can’t stand Bokuto’s levels of filth being permanently embedded into his apartment, Sakusa doesn’t know. Ultimately, he doesn’t care to know, as long as Bokuto continues to spend as little time as possible at the dorms.

Up until recently, Atsumu had lived with a roommate elsewhere, but that had recently fallen through and to Sakusa’s great horror he’d moved into the empty room across the hall from his own. “We’re practically roommates now, Omi-kun,” he’d declared with a sunny smile laced with smugness. “Isn’t that excellent?” Sakusa sprayed him with bug repellant, and made sure never to leave the door to his room unlocked again.

So when Hinata moves in, Sakusa steels himself to endure yet  _ another  _ filthy man baby ruining his space. He expects to see Hinata’s underwear added to the growing pile strewn across their laundry room floor, and see Hinata’s dirty plates and bowls left  _ unrinsed _ on the kitchen counters. He expects to be kept up late every night by impromptu gaming sessions and screaming.

What he gets is the opposite of that. Hinata is probably one of the cleanest and most respectful roommates he’s ever had.

Every night, Hinata is fast asleep by eleven. Without fail. When Atsumu complains, he just chirps back that it’s important for athletes to keep a consistent sleep schedule, and that he can’t function without a solid eight hours a night. The disgusted face Atsumu pulls is one Sakusa will treasure forever.

When Sakusa awakens each morning, it is to Hinata meditating either in the common area or on the shared balcony. He’s an early waker, and a quiet one. Sakusa nearly screams the first time he emerges from his room to see Hinata sat unmoving in front of the sofa.

Hinata cracks one eye open, offering Sakusa a genuine smile. “Good morning, Omi-san,” he says, and Sakusa doesn’t know when they went from ‘Sakusa-san’ to ‘Omi-san’, but it’s only occurred since Hinata moved into the dorms, which means Atsumu is to blame.  _ Sleep with one eye open tonight, bastard Miya. _

Shuffling into the kitchen, Sakusa finds the rice cooker already on and rice already cooked, with healthy side dishes already neatly put away in little tubs and containers, set aside in the fridge to cool. The counter tops are wiped down and dirt-free, the bowls and pans scrubbed clean and neatly stacked upon the draining board. “Feel free to help yourself,” Hinata calls from the living area. “I cooked for my roommate Pedro back in Brazil, so I guess I’m just into the habit of cooking too much.”

Looking around the spotless kitchen, Sakusa could cry. Surely, he must have done something amazing in a past life to deserve this. The smell of cleaning products lingers in the air. His heart feels like it’s beating out of his chest.  _ He even used the anti-bacterial surface spray. I think I’m in love. _

The bliss doesn’t last, however, because Bokuto and Atsumu (tragically) wake up, and soon both Sakusa and Hinata are plagued by their sobs and pleads when they find out Hinata cooked breakfast for Sakusa  _ and not for us, Shou-kun? Are ya playin’ favourites, huh? I thought you were my disciple! _

They soon settle into some sort of a routine. Sakusa wakes up, says hello to Hinata meditating, helps himself to breakfast before the terrible twosome awake, and then they go the practice. Sakusa bullies Atsumu, and Atsumu yells at him back. Sometimes Hinata tries to peace-make. Atsumu and Bokuto continue to display disgustingly poor hygiene and cleanliness. Sakusa threatens to pour bleach onto their beds. Hinata peace-makes (again) and offers to help Sakusa clean the mess left up behind, and notably manages to actually get Miya Atsumu to pick his filthy sweaty clothes off the laundry room floor.

Sakusa grouches, Hinata smiles. Atsumu and Bokuto try their hand at cooking, Sakusa and Hinata clean it up together. Throughout it all, Sakusa fastidiously ignores the warm squishy feeling inside his chest. He imagines it having Atsumu’s face, and furiously stomps it down, while sending an apology to Osamu all the while.

Everything comes to a head one day when Sakusa returns home from a jog to find Atsumu and Bokuto peering into the living area. 

“Is there a cockroach?” Sakusa asks. “Because if there is, I’m not getting it this time.”

Neither of them say anything. They part and let Sakusa peek between them into the living room. Hinata is there, folded into a one-legged pigeon pose on a yoga mat in front of the sofa where he normally does his meditation.

Sakusa prides himself on being calm and reasonable, not easily swayed by emotions (that aren’t annoyance at Miya Atsumu’s face, or smug pride whenever he does something that Atsumu can’t). He’s always seen himself as level-headed and rational.

He’d like to say that what happens when he sees Hinata practicing bendy yoga poses in the living room of their shared dorm, is that he pauses to appreciate Hinata’s flexibility and admire his dedication towards a healthy body and mind. What really happens is something like this:

Sakusa’s mind is in the middle of reciting a full list of benefits of yoga for athletes - not limited to increased flexibility and muscle strength and tone, not to mention fortifying against future injury - when his mind processes the short, bright red booty shorts Hinata is wearing as he stretches, one leg splayed out ahead of him and the other stretched up behind him. They perfectly showcase his tanned, muscled thighs, and they are most definitely  _ not  _ the normal yoga pants designed for this activity.

There is a war going on inside Sakusa Kiyoomi. One part of his mind is admiring the view, and the other part of him is cursing Hinata for not obeying standard yoga procedure and wearing leggings instead. What happens is this: his mind does the equivalent of a Windows shut-down noise, and with a mumble squeak he flees to the safety of the showers.

Later that night, he adds  _ red booty shorts  _ and  _ incorrect sports attire  _ to the list of things he despises, alongside rotten things and people who are underprepared.

* * *

It’s months of being on the same team before the others manage to wrangle both Sakusa and Hinata out to post-match drinks with them. The former normally swears off them due to a dislike of public spaces, drunken people, and both of those things combined into one horrifying scenario. Hinata so far has managed to escape the horrors of a drunken Bokuto by being vehemently opposed to day-drinking - “We’re athletes, come on!” - and a strict rule against staying up past his bedtime.

They’d won him over, finally, with a promise to be back home before eleven. A promise backed up by Meian, who had to get back early for fear of his wife’s wrath. And because Hinata was now going, that meant Sakusa had to go, which now meant he was stuck babysitting a team of drunk professional volleyball players with the boy he has a maybe-crush on.

Calling it a crush sounds so juvenile, but it’s better than admitting he is genuinely attracted to a man based on his personal hygiene and self-care routines.  _ There’s nothing sexier than someone who takes care of their body and their mind,  _ someone had told Sakusa once, and he’s yet to determine whether they had been mocking him or agreeing with him.

Nonetheless, the situation now is this: Hinata (still sober, the only responsible drinker present) had offered to help Bokuto (drunk, but no worse than he is sober) pay for their drinks. Sakusa (who had not touched anything in this grimy bar all evening) was left babysitting Atsumu (barely conscious). The others had somehow managed to escape earlier, leaving just the four of them to heft the bill and get the drunkards home. All five foot seven of Hinata is making an admirable effort at carrying all six foot three of Bokuto back over to their table, and Sakusa has to admire his strength and dedication. He can only hope Atsumu is too drunk to notice the flush of embarrassed arousal on his face currently.

The walk back to the dorms isn’t a long one, but it’s long enough to have Sakusa regretting every decision in life that’s led him to this moment now as Atsumu throws up in an alleyway. Like any supportive friend and teammate would, Sakusa stands a safe distance of five metres away from Atsumu and offers no emotional support except for passing an anti-bacterial hand wipe his way.

Behind them, Bokuto lets out a gasp. “Oh no,” he whines. Something is wrong, Sakusa can just tell, and he blames Komori for being the one to get him into volleyball all those years ago. “My wallet - it’s gone!” Atsumu lets out another retch and a moan in the alleyway.

I _ bet Ushijima doesn't have to put up with this on the Schweiden Adlers, _ Sakusa thinks.  _ Why did I sign here? _

Bokuto is getting increasingly depressed now, big yellow eyes brimming with tears and his face pulling up into an ugly sneer that makes him look like a wrinkled cat dunked in bathwater. “Akaashi’s going to kill me for this!”

“It’s okay, stay calm,” Hinata soothes. “Don’t panic. What did you have in there?”

“Everything,” Bokuto sniffles, drunkenly leaning more weight on Hinata and causing him to stumble. Sakusa abandons his post as Atsumu-watcher to grab Bokuto’s other side, reliving Hinata and the other shoots him a thankful smile that has arrows shooting through his heart. “My cash, my bank cards, my ID…” He pauses. “Oh god, I had my favourite photo of Akaashi and I in there too.”

“Why would you keep something so precious inside your wallet?” Sakusa says, and perhaps he snaps too harshly because it has Bokuto’s face collapsing in on itself further.

“Omi-san!” Hinata protests, and Sakusa can’t bear to see that sunshine face looking at him in disapproving warning. “But, y’know Bokuto-san, Omi-san is right. You shouldn’t keep everything in one place. When I was in Brazil, I lost my wallet once and never found it - but likely I only kept cash in there! I keep my cards and ID in my phone case here, see! And it might be better to leave photos of Akaashi-san in your room. You wouldn’t want to lose those.”

They’re stumbling their way back down the road again, Atsumu clinging to one of Sakusa’s arms and Bokuto thrown over the other. With Hinata on Bokuto’s other side, they must look like a merry band of drunkards.

“But it’s gone now,” Bokuto says. “I can’t find my wallet or Akaashi-san.”

“I’ll call the bar tomorrow to inquire,” Sakusa says with a sigh, and the suffering he’ll endure by interacting with strangers is worth it for the bright beam Bokuto gives him, and the soft smile Hinata sends his way.

By the time they get both Bokuto and Atsumu safely in their beds with a glass of water and a painkiller left on their bedside tables, it’s almost midnight.

“I’m sorry we didn’t manage to stick to your curfew,” Sakusa says, offering a small condolence to Hinata. He knows that feeling himself all too well.

Ever the generous man, Hinata just laughs, and that quickly morphs into a yawn. “That’s alright. I’ll survive one night. By the way, Omi-san,” - he pauses by the entrance to his room, door ajar - “do you mind if I borrow some of your detergent? Mine ran out the other day, and I forgot to buy more yesterday.”

_ Forgetting to restock on supplies running low, that’s a black mark against him.  _ Perhaps it’s the fumes from Atsumu’s drunken breath clouding his mind, but Sakusa’s attraction to Hinata isn’t the slightest bit deterred by the realisation that his personal care and attentiveness isn’t quite up to Sakusa’s own standards. In fact, looking behind Hinata and through the door into Hinata’s tidy and clean yet unorganised bedroom, these facts seem to only make the reality worse. Hinata Shouyou is a real, breathing human being with flaws and a somewhat imperfect set of routines for himself, and Sakusa does not think he has ever been this attracted to someone.

Though the photos of Hinata sun-soaked and sweating in loose-fitting clothes in Brazil get that low thrum of arousal going in his gut, nothing quite sucker-punches his heart like the realisation that Hinata is a sweet, diligent and big-hearted man who is responsible and disciplined and passionate about what he does.

It is, as Atsumu might call it, a ‘heart-boner’ for Hinata Shouyou.

* * *

All of this doesn’t become a real problem until it bleeds over onto the court. Yeah, Sakusa knows Hinata is an extraordinarily well-rounded player. He’s got amazing strength in his legs, and his quicks are something to marvel at, but there’s nothing that Sakusa appreciates more than a solid serve defense. Ninja Shouyou is as good as his name suggests, bumping balls than even Sakusa flinches at, and carefully avoiding overstepping his boundaries as a receiver. It’s like having another Inunaki on the team, mindful and respectful yet solidly and confidently talented.

So far, Sakusa has managed to keep his crush firmly in the regime of  _ outside volleyball _ , but when he sees Hinata talking to Bokuto about how he learnt to set well from a player called Oikawa in Brazil, that crush bleeds over into the  _ volleybal zone _ .

“And it was like,  _ whapush _ , I’d never thought before about what went through a setters mind when they were setting, and now I got it! Oikawa-san was always thinking about what came next with every ball he set, and I’ve tried to do the same!”

“Whoah, you’re so cool, Shouyou!”

“Thanks, Bokuto-san.”

Sakusa thinks about Hinata, and how he’s managed to thoroughly incorporate that mantra of ‘what comes next’ into every part of his life, from his receives and mind games on the court to his careful attention to the body and mind outside volleyball. So prepared, so disciplined… Of course, he can’t prepare for every outcome, but Hinata knows this more than anyone.

After his surprise fever in his first year of high school, Hinata learnt how unpredictable life could be, and how easy it was to be not okay, and every step forward he’d taken from then was to ensure that he could do the best he could. Training and disciplining himself every day until these good practises were habits ingrained deep into him…

Sakusa thinks he might be in love.

Fuck. Sakusa’s in love.

“What’s that stupid look on yer face? Finally realised you’re in love with Shouyou-kun, or what?” Miya Atsumu’s grating voice cuts through his sudden realisation. Sakusa clenches his jaw, tossing the ball in his hands around mindlessly and studiously ignoring the man next to him. It feels like there’s a festival going off inside his chest, all fireworks and explosions and soft sweet feelings like cotton candy erupting up inside him.

Atsumu’s face pops up in front of his. “You’re joking,” he says, sounding horrified. “You’ve only just realised you’re in love with Hinata?”

“Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sakusa snaps. “I’m not in love with Hinata-san.”

“You’re not?” Meian interrupts. “Wait, seriously?”

“You definitely are,” Inunanki disagrees, “otherwise I’m rather concerned about the amount of time you spend staring at him with  _ that  _ look on your face.”

The realisation that he’d been as easy to read like an open book is horrifying and repulsive, and Sakusa makes the split second decision to never take a face mask and ski-goggles off his face again, so no one can ever know what he’s feeling. Especially not Atsumu. Knowing that Atsumu knew about his disgusting, sappy, non-Sakusa like feelings for Hinata before he did is something that will haunt him forever.

Well, there’s nothing to be done then. If everyone on the team already knows about his feelings for Hinata, then there’s no point dawdling around about it. At the top of the list of things Sakusa hates, is things left unfinished and unsaid. Closely followed after that is having to express emotions and open up to people, but fortunately for Hinata the desire to see things through wins out here.

“Hinata-san,” he calls out, startling everyone around him. Atsumu is staring at him with a mixture of admiration and fear, as if he can’t believe Sakusa realised his feelings for Hinata only ten seconds ago and is already making his move.  _ Coward _ . 

Hinata looks up at his name, bird-like eyes assessing Sakusa curiously. Bokuto seems to have a hint of self-preservation for once, and quickly vanishes off when Sakusa approaches. No doubt he and Atsumu are watching with eager eyes from behind his back, but he really can’t bear to leave the situation as it is for a moment longer.

Stopping in front of Hinata, he allows himself a second to feel a rush of nerves and adrenaline, heart beating faster and faster in his chest, before he lets it all go until all that remains is that familiar warmth. That wriggling of butterflies in his chest that he’s coming to associate with Hinata.

“Omi-san?”

“Will you go out with me?” Sakusa asks, blunt as ever. “I’ve recently become aware that my affections for you stretch beyond those of a friend and team-mate, and so I’d like to ask you out on a date.”

The gymnasium is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even Coach Foster has frozen on his phone call, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at them. Hinata blinks curiously up at Sakusa, head tilted to one side, and Sakusa experiences an emotion he doesn’t think he’s ever appreciated properly before: fear.

Yet before that fear can sink its icy claws into the warmth of his heart, Hinata’s face splits into that familiar wide smile, all gums and teeth and pure sunshine. “I’d love to, Omi-san,” he says, and Sakusa realises that  _ oh, this is what it feels like to look right at the sun without any sunglasses o _ n. Bokuto lets out a hoot behind them, and the rest of their team let out a shocked but rapturous set of whoops and jeers.

Perhaps if this was one of those dramas Komori is so fond of they would hug or kiss right now. Or just do something romantic to indicate there’s been a monumental change in their relationship.

However Hinata is Hinata, and Sakusa is Sakusa, and they’re just as they always were. Later, when practice is over and they’re freshly showered, teeth cleaned and mouths washed out with minty mouthwash, they’ll kiss in the storage room, away from prying eyes.

Right now, though, they have practice.

* * *

Nothing much changes once they get together. Hinata still meditates every morning and cooks breakfast. Sakusa cleans the dorms. Bokuto and Atsumu still cause a ruckus and a mess and drive Sakusa to the edge of his sanity. They still go to practice every day, and Sakusa still bullies Atsumu every chance they get.

Except now, Hinata sleeps in Sakusa’s bed sometimes (after thoroughly scrubbing down in the shower), and they kiss in the dorm kitchens (only after cleaning their teeth each morning), and now Sakusa gets to torment Atsumu through displays of PDA that make Meian pull them aside and beg them to please stop.

Teenage Sakusa would probably look at present-day Sakusa and wonder how he could date someone who doesn’t always hang his towel to dry correctly, and who misses the corners of his room when he hoovers, or drinks orange juice straight from the carton when he thinks no one is looking.

Present-day Sakusa thinks teenage Sakusa doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.

**Author's Note:**

> *jazz hands* theres nothing sexier than personal hygiene, folks! i hope u enjoyed this dumb little fic :') this is the first thing ive properly written for this fandom, but im hoping to write some atsuhina over the coming months so pls look forward to that :') if u enjoyed reading this, pls leave a comment/kudos they rlly make my day!!!!
> 
> if u wanna yell abt anime im on twitter <[@catboyeijun](https://twitter.com/catboyeijun) and i love 2 make new friends :3


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